Grade-two thinking is the detection of contradictions. Grade-two thinkers do not stampede easily, though often they fall into the other fault and lag behind. Grade-two thinking is a withdrawal, with eyes and ears open. It destroys without having the power to create. It set me watching the crowds cheering His Majesty the King and asking myself what all the fuss was about, without giving me anything positive to put in the place of that heady patriotism. But there were compensations. To hear people justify their habit of hunting foxes by claiming that the foxes liked it. To hear our Prime Minister talk about the great benefit we conferred on India by jailing people like Nehru and Gandhi. To hear American politicians talk about peace and refuse to join the League of Nations. Yes, there were moments of delight.
第二级思考是要察觉矛盾。第二级思考者们尽管常常陷入另一个极端，落在他人后面，但他们不会莽撞。第二级思考者是一种退缩或冷漠，但第二级思考者们都看得清楚，听得明白。它能够丢掉错误的观念，但却无法建立正确的观念。它使我看着向国王陛下欢呼的人群，问自己这所有的混乱喧闹到底是为了什么，除了那种狂热的爱国主义之外，似乎没有任何别的理由来加以解释了。但我也从中得到了回报。那就是，我听到了人们通过宣称狐狸喜欢被人捕猎，从而为自己猎狐的习惯来辩护。我听到了我们的首相谈论我们通过监禁像尼赫鲁和甘地这样的人而给予了印度巨大的好处。我听到了美国政客们在大谈和平的同时却拒绝加入国际联盟。是的，的确有快乐的时刻。
But I was growing toward adolescence and had to admit that Mr Houghton was not the only one with an irresistible spring in his neck. I, too, felt the compulsive hand of nature and began to find that pointing out contradiction could be costly as well as fun. There was Ruth, for example, a serious and attractive girl. I was an atheist at the time. And she was a Methodist. But, alas, instead of relying on the Holy Spirit to convert me, Ruth was foolish enough to open her pretty mouth in argument. She claimed that the Bible was literally inspired. I countered by saying that the Catholics believed in the literal inspiration of Saint Jerome's Vulgate, and the two books were different. Argument flagged.
但是，当我进入青春期，我不得不承认霍顿先生并非唯一一位脖子被不可抗拒的弹簧所控制的人。我也感觉到了自然之力的不可抗拒，并开始发现指出矛盾既有趣，但又要付出代价。比如那位既严肃又迷人的女孩露丝。那时我是一个无神论者。而她是个循道公会的信徒。可不幸的是，我没有依靠圣灵来规劝我皈依宗教，而是张开那漂亮的小嘴与我争辩，她可真傻到家了。她声称《圣经》确实是受到圣灵的启迪的。我反驳说天主教徒相信圣哲罗姆的拉丁文《圣经》才是受神灵的启示的，而这两本书是不同的。争论一下子变得索然无味了。
来源:可可英语 //www.utensil-race.com/daxue/201807/560276.shtml
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